A chance encounter at a local store brought together a Villa Park breast cancer survivor and a family in the midst of a battle against the disease.

Villa Park resident Tracey Stills was working as a radiation and oncology analyst at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, after her successful breast cancer treatment at the hospital. While spending her break from work one day in March at a local Target store, Stills was stopped by a woman in the parking lot.

The woman asked Stills whether she was a breast cancer survivor. Wearing a pink leather jacket, pink Coach purse, pink hat and pink gym shoes, Stills confirmed that she was.

The woman, Debra Jackson-Crowe, accompanied by her brother and sister, was desperately looking for help. Her twin sister Denise recently had been diagnosed with an aggressive case of breast cancer. With no clue where to go and no health insurance, she turned to Stills, a complete stranger, for help with her sister’s quickly progressing disease.

Within minutes, Stills had filled Jackson-Crowe’s hands with brochures from the American Cancer Society, Illinois Breast & Cervical Cancer Program, Gilda’s House, and many more. Stills told the siblings to call her if they had more questions.

The fact that Denise was not an Advocate Good Samaritan patient never caused Stills to falter in her graciousness. For the last few months of Denise’s life, her family called on Stills for help many times.

When Denise had to be moved out of her home and in with her brother, Stills arranged for the movers free of charge. At a Sunday church service when Denise was rushed to the hospital due to her illness, Stills connected the family with a chaplain. As the breast cancer was bringing Denise’s life to an end, Stills made sure she had all the medical equipment she needed, free of charge. She even arranged for a hospice in the area.

And when Denise died this summer, it was Stills the family called to help them write the obituary on a Saturday afternoon, plan the funeral, and say a few words during the service. She even provided a wig for Denise that very much resembled her original hair before it was lost to chemotherapy.

Truly touched by her compassion and gratitude, Denise’s siblings sent a $5,000 check to Stills as a thank you for her kindness, which she quickly returned.

The family then sent the donation to Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital, along with a two-page letter of recognition. The letter prompted Stills to be recognized by the hospital with the MVP Award for Compassion, given to employees who show compassion, equality, excellence, partnership and stewardship in their daily work.

In the letter written to the hospital by Jackson-Crowe before her return to her family in Japan, she wrote, “I couldn’t leave (the United States) without letting you know what a true advocate and good samaritan you have at your establishment. If you can, you should clone her because Advocate is truly blessed to have such a person in their midst. If you have any type of recognition ever, Tracey, the angel in pink, deserves to be thanked. Many people will be blessed.”

To Stills, the help she gave just seemed like the right thing to do.

“I believe I was given a second chance at life,” Stills said. “I feel that I give back every time I walk into work.”